Power-transmission mechanism for traction-machines.



w. STRAIT; I POWER TRANSMISSION MECHANISM FOR TRACTION MACHINES-APPLICATION FILED MAY 24. I913. I 1,250,381. Patented Dec. 18, 1917..

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POWER TRANSMISSION MECHANISM FOR TRACTION MACHINES.

Patented Dec. 18,1917.

' APPLICATION FILED MAY 24, I913. 1,250,381.

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POWER-TRANSMISSION MECHANISM FOR TBAOTION-HACHim Specification ofLetters 2mm. Pa,tntd Dc. 18, 1917 Application filed Kay 24, 1918. SerialNo. 769,881.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM Srnnrgga citizen of the United States,residing at A13- pleton, Wisconsin, have invented certaln new and usefulImprovements in Power- Transmission Mechanism for Traction-Ma chines,"of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to driving and change speed gearing, particularlyadapted for tractors, and including provision for driving machinery bymeans of the tractor engine when the tractor is stationary. In apreferred form of the invention, the mechanism includes a removablepower shaft to drive such machinery, with necessary ar rangements forutting this shaft in position when desired The characteristics andadvantages of the invention will be further described hereafter, inconnection with a detailed description of'the accompanying drawing.which shows one exemplifying embodiment of the invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation.

Fig. 2 is a plan of a tractor embodying my invention.

Fig. 3. is an enlarged plan view of the transmission mechanism.

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a rear view, partly in section and partly in elevation, of theframe and removable-shaft bearing.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail of the frame and removable. bearing.

Reference character 1 designates side members of a tractor frame,connected at to and bottom cross-bars 2, 3, respectively. Suitablylocated on the frame is an engine 4. At the front is a steering tractorfi, and at the rear on each side isa driving tractor 6. Drive shaft 7,mounted in suitable hearings 8, carried by frame members 1, carries thedrive sprockets 9 of 1 .theldriving tractors. Driving shaft? is, of 1course provided with differential mechanismz or differentially drivingthe tractors in turning, but this differential mechanism may yvaryreatly and is, therefore, not particularly s own or described. Gear 1018 mounted on shaft 7 for driving the same.

Inlinewith themain shaft ofengine 4 is.

-a primary gear shaft 11,, whichis connected and disconnected with theengine by clutch .encd and braced by a brace rod 49 b0 ted 12. On therima shaft are ur are 13, 14, of ditt rent diameters. A E one zide ofthe primary shaft 11 .is' countershaft 15, carrying the sliding gearelement 16; onsisting, of gears 17, 18, and annular shaft collar 19.Shaft 15 is either splined'fl or squared. Shafts 11 and 15 arerotatably.., mounted in bearings 20 carried :by. trans verse framemembers 21 22', Frame her 22 is bolted to the lower sides of sidge oiamembers 1 and its bearings-20 are thus easily arranged so that the axisof shaft 11'. is directly in line with the center of the opening betweenrear cross frame members 2. and 3, as clearly shown in Fig. 5. Trans- 0verse frame member 21 is bolted to the tops of side members 1 and shaft15 is thus carried somewhat above the level of shaft 11.

At the rear end, shaft 15 is rovided with a bevel' pinion 30.Transversely mounted in the frame, in bearings 31, is bevel gearshaft32, carrying forward and reverse driving. beveled gears 33, 34,respectively. Bear" ings 31,, rest u on side frame members 1, tin thusshaft 32 is supported in the same pla'negll'tlf as shaft 15. Gears 33and 34 are rigidly geared toshaft 32 and the shaft is movable endwise inits hearings to engage either of the bevel gears with pinion 30, as maybe desired. To permit such movement of she ft 32 and at the same time totransmit powfir from it to the drive shaft'7, shaft. 32- has rigidlyfixed on it wide faced pinion 37, engaging gear 10, previouslymentioned.

Shaft 32 isshiftcdln' thct'ollowing means: 'On- 0ne-0f the sideframemembers 1 is bolted a plate 40. ()n (his f "l is slidably mountedin a longitudinal o ndeway, cam plate 41, having dragon-dram slot 42with straightend portions 43, ll. Below this is mounted a bar 46 onwhich is an upwardly projecting stud 47, within the cam some. Attheinner end of bar 46 is rigidlybolted a shifter arm 48, and this isfurther stren thto arm 48 near shaft 32.5mm bar 46 at its outer end. Byreason of the fact that plate 40 and its uideways are made very heavyandrigitha d the fact that the shifter bar 46 is of ample length,"andthe construction of said barand arm 48, and their brace rod 49, isverystrong and rigid, the outer end of shifter arm 48iis positively andfirmly held in whatever position-it is placed in, by.

cam 42. The outer end'of shifter arm 4813 110 made circular to embraceshaft 32, and, if desired, the end of said arm may be provided with aremovable, bolted-on cap v50, as shown. Between the arm 48 and pinion 35is placed a ball-thrust bearing 51, and at the other side of said arm isa ball-thrust bearing 52. A distance member 53 extends from the thrustbearing 52, to the hub of gear 33. Now, evidently, when cam plate 41isin the position shown, stud 47 positively locates shifter arm 48 insuch posi: tion, as shown that reverse bevel gear 34 is in engagementwith pinion 30. But when cam plate 41 is moved rearward, stud 47 ismoved to the right, as seen in the drawing, and finally locked in thisposition by straight gart 43 of thecafn slot, and then forwardrivingbevel gear 33 is locked in engagement with pinlon 30. To insure theproper positioning of shaft 32 and its gear, and especially forwarddriving gear 33, in rela tion to the shifter arm, the distance mem' ber53 is preferably made adjustable. For this purpose the said distancemember con sists of a tube 54 resting against hub of gear 33 andthreaded at the other end. A

tubular collar 55, internally threaded, engages tube 54 and restsagainst the thrust bearing 52. By turning collar 55 in relation to tube54, the distance of gear 33 from shifter 48 can be regulated in anobvious way, and the very accurate meshing of, gear 33 with pinion 30eflected.

It has been explained that the axis of primary gear shaft 11 is insubstantially the horizontal center plane of the frame and this axispasses below transverse shaft 32. Taking advantage of this arrangement,I provide shaft '11. with a squared rear end 60 to receive the squaredsocket 61 on the end of removable power shaft 62, shown in workingposition in all of the figures. At its rear end, this shaft is carriedin a bearing 64, and this hearing is removably secured betweentransverse rear frame members 2 and 3, by bolts 65. passing throughholes 66 in said frame members. To re ceive the bolts the beat-in 64 isprovided at each side-with a half cylindrical vertical channel 67.Shaft-62 may also be provided with a thrust collar 68 just forward ofthe bearing, and at the rear of the bearing and outside the frame, theshaft may be provided with any suitable gear pulley or other driving'.element 69 by whiehpower may be conveyed to any machine or implement.

As shown in Fig. 3, the rear frame members 2, 3,1111; provided with amultiplicity of holes 66, these being in vertical line in the two framemembers, so that plows, harvesters, wagons, or any other loads may beeasily and properly attached to the tractor for hauling. This samearrangement is made use of as just described, to provide easy means ofsecuring the removable power shaft in position by utilizing two pairs ofholes 66 and two bolts 65, which may be the same as are used forcoupling pins.

A plurality of removable power shafts 62 may be provided, each having adifferent kind of gear pulley, or other transmission device, so that thetractor may be used to drive various kinds of farm machinery without anymore work or trouble than inserting the proper power shaft, or changingfrom one to the other, as the work may require.

When the tractor is to be used for hauling, the power shaft 62 isremoved. The operation of the change speed mechanism for driving atdifi'erent gear ratios is oband so that a load of any kind may behitched to the center of said bars, which is the most advantageous wayof hitching most loads, in view of the fact that'when so hitched thedraft on-the tractor is evenly balanced.

To shift the sliding gear element 16, the adjacent frame member 1 isprovided with a guide channel '80 and fulcrum post 81. In the channel isa shifter bar 82 connected to the gear element by arm 83 and yokeengaging annular groove 19 of the gear element. Lever 84 is pivoted tothe fulcrum post at 85, and to provide simple and efii- When the tractoris to be used for cient means for holding the shifting means in roperposition, this pivot'point, is prefera ly provided with-frictiondevices. A preferred form of such retaining devices consists in aleather or other frictional disk 86 between the lever and the post, anda spring washer 87 adjustably compressed between the lever and the bolthead 88. The bolt 88, of course, passes through the fulcrum post, leverand friction disk and washer.

The upper end of the lever adjacent to th handle may also be providedwith a weigh? 89. When the lever is thrown either way to shift the gear,the wei ht 89- and friction fulcrum Wlll effectively old the slidingelement in proper position.

A suitable lever 90 is also provided for moving cam'plate 41.

I claim 1. In a traction machine, the combination of a main frame,driving tractors, a drive a 'ermanent. member of said main frame an inengagement with an element of said gearing so t at the detachable shaftis entirely supported by the vehicle.

- 2. In a traction machine, the combination with a main frame, drivintractors, a drive shaft therefor, a motor, c ange s eed earingintermediate said motor and rive s iaft, a removable power shaft, meansfor connectin said power shaft with an element of said 0 ange speedgearing, a bearin for said power shaft, and means for detac ablysecuring said bearing in position on a per man'ent part of the frame, sothat the detachable shaft is entirely supported by parts of the tractionmachine.

3. In a traction machine, the combination .of-a main frame, drivingtractors a motor, transmission mechanism intermediate said motor andtractors, means for operatively connectingx and disconnecting the motorand tractors t rough said transmission mechanism, a power shaft havingmeans for detachably connecting it to a part of said transmissionmechanism, a bearing for said power shaft, and means for detachablysecuring said bearing to a fixed part of the frame.

4. In a traction machine, the combination of a frame having a fixedtransverse rear member provided with means for connecting a loadthereto, a motor, driving tractors,

transmission mechanism intermediate said motor and tractors, includingconnecting.

and disconnecting means, a power shaft provided with means fordetachably connecting it with a part of said transmission mechanism, abearing for said shaft, and means for connecting said bearing detachablyto said rear transverse frame member.

5. In a tractor, the combination of a main frame, an engine, a drivingshaft and transmission gearing to connect the engine with said shaft,said gearing including a member adapted for engagement by a dismountablepower shaft, transverse rear members on the main frame having couplingholes for the attachment of a load to be drawn by the tractor, aremovable bearing and removable bolts to cooperate with said bearing andsaid coupling holes to detachably secure the bearin to said framemembers, and a detachab e flower shaft supported in said bearing andaving a part to be engaged with with said gear member.

WILLIAM STRAIT.

Witnesses:

A. M. Panama, D. M. SMITH.

